The Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary, is honoured in the Church as the true Mother of God, the one who bore the Word incarnate without corruption. She is not a symbolic figure nor an abstraction of idealised womanhood—she is the living Ark of the Covenant, the ladder by which God descended and through whom mankind was raised. At the foot of the Cross, Christ said to the beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother” (John 19:27). In this, the Fathers see not only the care of St John, but the entrusting of the Church to her maternal intercession.
The Theotokos is the mirror of perfect obedience, not as the world understands it—as silent submission or weak compliance—but as the full and fearless embrace of God’s will. Her response to the Archangel, “Be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38), was not the speech of resignation, but of a soul wholly given over to the service of her Creator. It was the fiery assent of one whose heart burned with faith, purity, and unwavering trust. In that moment, she gave her whole life, body and soul, to the mystery of the Incarnation. She bore in her womb not a symbol, not an idea, but the uncreated Logos Himself, the second Person of the Trinity, become flesh.
Her obedience undid the disobedience of Eve. As the Fathers teach, death entered through the pride of the first woman, but Life Himself entered the world through the humility of the Virgin. She did not seek honour. She did not grasp after glory. Yet all generations call her blessed, for she held nothing back from God. She accepted not only the joy of bearing Christ, but the sword that would pierce her own soul (cf. Luke 2:35). She endured the rejection of men, the flight into Egypt, the daily burden of hidden life, and at last the Cross, where she stood not as one defeated, but as the steadfast Mother of the Crucified.
Her place in salvation history is not a role that can be repeated or shared. She alone is Theotokos—the God-bearer—because she alone gave her flesh to the Son of God. She is the boundary between created and uncreated, the living gate through which Christ entered time. Yet she never places herself at the centre. She never speaks of herself apart from her Son. She leads us always to Him, pointing not to her own greatness, but to the greatness of the One whom she bore: “My soul doth magnify the Lord” (Luke 1:46). In this, she is the highest model of Christian life: selfless, obedient, humble, and utterly filled with God.
Shall we not then honour her? Shall we not imitate her? For in her we see what it means to be a true servant of the Lord—not seeking praise, not grasping at authority, but pouring out one’s life in full obedience and trust in God. To the degree we learn to speak as she spoke, and live as she lived, to that same degree we too shall become vessels of grace.
The prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos are not empty wishes scattered to the wind, nor the desperate murmurs of superstition. They are the supplications of the Mother of God, heard with power because they rise from a heart that bore the very Flesh of the Saviour. She intercedes as one whose maternal love is both intimate and unceasing. She is not far off, observing from the heavens without concern—she is a mother in the fullest and highest sense—vigilant, present, and full of compassion. When the faithful cry out to her in illness, affliction, or spiritual ruin, it is not into silence that they speak. Our spiritual Mother hears, and she carries these petitions to her Son with boldness, for her love and obedience to Him are matched by His love and honour for her.
The Holy Church has, from the earliest centuries, run to her as to a fortress and shield. In times of plague, invasion, famine, and persecution, her icons were carried in procession through city streets. Her name was invoked by soldiers on the battlefield and by monastics in their cells. The Akathist Hymn, born out of deliverance from siege, still echoes through the centuries as a witness to her saving intercession. She has saved cities, softened hardened hearts, protected virgins, healed the sick, and delivered souls from demonic oppression. This is not exaggeration or legend—it is the living witness of the Church, attested in her hymns, her lives of saints, and her unbroken tradition. To call upon her is not to elevate her above Christ—God forbid—but to honour the one whom Christ Himself honoured. As the Church proclaims in the ancient hymn: “It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most blameless, and the Mother of our God.” She is “more honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim”—not because she exalts herself, but because God has exalted her. Her glory flows from her union with Christ, and her intercession draws its strength from the power of the One to whom she prays.
To neglect her is to cut ourselves off from the living tradition of the saints. To seek her prayers is to join in the footsteps of the Apostles, who remained in prayer with her (Acts 1:14); of the desert fathers, who saw her as their comfort; and of the martyrs, who faced death with her name on their lips. Her prayers have raised the fallen and guided the penitent. If we have any love for Christ, we will not despise His Mother. And if we love His Mother, we will not cease to call upon her with trust, humility, and fervent devotion.
In these darkened times, when blasphemy is paraded as virtue and heresies defile the churches, we must turn to the Most Pure Virgin. She is not a decoration for church walls or a sentimental relic of old devotions. She is the terror of demons, the protector of the faithful, the defender of chastity, and the shield of the apostolic Church. Her icons weep, her feasts sanctify the year, and her name causes the spirits of wickedness to tremble. Let us not neglect her. Let us chant her akathists, bow before her icons, and call upon her day and night. For where the Mother is honoured, the Son is glorified, and the Church is strengthened.
May God bless you +
Fr. Charles
11 (28) May 2025
4th Sunday of Pascha
